Page 36 of Knot All that Glitters: Part 1

This last week, texting with Haven, getting to know her more, I’ve found her to be a genuinely sweet person, kind, caring, nothing like her father. Nothing like the image we’d had of her in our collective brains. We didn’t have a lot to go on while researching her.

Ren is her only friend. The other omegas who’d attended the academy at the same time they did seem to think Haven was nice enough, but a little closed off, a little shy. They told us about a rumor that Haven had slept with one of the male omegas, but when we tracked down the few males who attended when she did, not one of them had admitted to it.

Anyone who has come into contact with her more recently has the same impression of her as we do. Poised, polite, quiet, the perfect daughter to her senator father, endlessly supportive of his efforts.

I suspect if we’d asked Florence Karlin about Haven, we’d get an entirely different view, more like the one I’m forming now. But approaching her one and only friend to get information about Haven Bell seems like a bad idea.

We’re in this now. There’s no backing out. Haven is in our sights, and I honestly don’t know if I’d be able to just walk away from her. But… maybe Creed is right and we don’t have to use her like we intended.

Hale eyes me, jaw set. “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts, Tic.”

I shrug. “So what if I am?”

“Jesus, what is it with all of you?” Hale runs a hand down his face. “She’s not the sweet girl you think she is. How could she be when she’s been raised by a monster? You know we have to keep going.”

I look away from him. “I just think it might be worth reassessing… maybe after this week with her. Maybe we can find another way she can be useful besides… you know, destroying her and her reputation.”

Our prime throws up his hands. “Fine. We can reassess after this week, but in the meantime, we move forward as if the plan is still on.”

Something loosens in my chest at his agreement. Even if we still keep track of points, even if we still record every illicit interaction, it won’t hurt anything if we don’t actually use it. If after this week we believe Haven doesn’t deserve to be used in this way, we can just delete it all. No harm, no foul.

That’s what I’ll tell myself to get through this.

My alpha is already straining against me, hating the idea of using any omega in this way, but especially Haven.

Footsteps clatter down the stairs and Jude bursts into the room, followed by a much more subdued Creed. “She’s here!” he crows, bouncing on his toes. “She just called up from the gate.”

Nerves immediately grip my stomach. What if she hates the house? What if she hates her room? Or the color of the walls, or if the couch isn’t comfortable enough for her?

Then we’ll change everything until she loves it, until she thinks of it as her home.

I bat the thought away. It’s too early to be thinking like that.No.I shouldn’t be thinking it at all. Haven is not our omega. We will not keep her when this is over. We can’t. Not only would it not be fair to her, but… well, we wouldn’t be able to actually bond with her.

Haven is not our omega. She never will be.

I don’t know why reaffirming that to myself hurts.

Creed must feel it, because he looks at me with his brows arched, the surly expression he’s had on his face since weannounced she’d be coming to stay with us morphing into… understanding.

“The cameras are running?” Hale asks, drawing my attention away from Creed. Jude nods.

“Yep, they’re all running.”

“You removed the ones in my room,” Creed says. It’s not a question but a statement, and Jude doesn’t miss a beat.

“Of course I did. Wouldn’t make sense to have them running when you aren’t playing the game.”

He’s lying. I know he’s lying. I can feel it in our bond, but Creed hasn’t opened his side of things for a week, ever since the first time we hung out with Haven. Under Hale’s instruction, Jude left the cameras in Creed’s bedroom. Our prime is determined to make Creed a part of this, a part of the plan. I think he wants Creed just as damned as the rest of us.

I can’t even blame him. I can feel our packmate drifting farther and farther away from us. Without this plan, without revenge, I’m not sure we’d still be a pack. I think Creed would have abandoned us a long time ago.

The rumble of an engine filters through the walls, and Jude grins, still bouncing on his toes. He moves first, hurrying toward the door and yanking it open as the engine cuts off. The rest of us follow our golden retriever packmate, emerging from the house just as Haven and Florence step out of the other omega’s beat-up car.

Our mark is wearing a pair of maroon leggings and an oversized knit cream sweater, Her hair is up in a messy bun and there is no makeup on her face, a far cry from the sexy little button we met at the bar, but somehow more appealing.

My alpha rumbles his pleasure at the sight of her, and I swear my dick gets hard from just looking at her.

With a squeal Haven launches herself up the steps, and Jude laughs as he descends. They meet in the middle, crashinginto each other in a tangle of arms, mouths meeting in a frantic kiss. Strands of her hair escape that haphazard bun as my pack mate devours her mouth. Hale smirks as he watches, his eyes flicking up to the security camera over the porch, no doubt catching the omega’s reaction to us.

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